Another shot from the annual PC Forum, Phoenix, Arizona, early 1985. Pictured are, from left, Bill Gates, Esther Dyson, from EDventure Holdings, and Barry James Folsom, from Digital Equipment.

Another shot from the annual PC Forum, Phoenix, Arizona, early 1985. Pictured are, from left, Bill Gates, Esther Dyson, from EDventure Holdings, and Barry James Folsom, from Digital Equipment.

Photo: Ann E. Yow-Dyson / Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg vs. Bill Gates at 30

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Mark Zuckerberg turns 30 today.

To mark his birthday, we looked at how the Facebook CEO’s life and achievements compare to those of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates when he was 30. Both entrepreneurs left a major mark on their industries by the beginning of their third decade. Gates turned 30 on October 28, 1985, a much different time for personal computing and social media.

Gates co-founded Microsoft at age 20. Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook at age 19. Both held the title of chief executive officer on their 30th birthday.

Both lacked college degrees, having dropped out of Harvard University.

Gates was named one of Good Housekeeping’s “50 Most Eligible Bachelors” at age 29. (That year’s list also included Bruce Springsteen, Warren Beatty, and Tom Selleck.) Gates married Melinda French in 1994, at age 38. Zuckerberg is no longer a bachelor — he married Priscilla Chan in 2012, at age 28.

Zuckerberg became a billionaire at age 23. His current net worth is $26.3 billion. Gates had not yet become a billionaire at age 30. He reached that status at age 31 and would top the Forbes magazine’s richest person in the world list from 1995 to 2007. He was No. 1 again in 2014. Gates’ current net worth is $77.5 billion.

Gates was 30 when Microsoft made its initial public offering. Zuckerberg was 28 when Facebook went public.

Zuckerberg was named Time Person of the Year in 2010, at age 26. Gates did not achieve that distinction until he was 50 years old in 2005. He shared the title that year with his wife Melinda and U2 frontman Bono.

And what about social media? Zuckerberg has more Facebook followers, while Gates leads on Twitter as of today. (Neither network was around when Gates was 30.) Zuckerberg’s Facebook page currently has 21.6 million followers, while Gates’ page has 9.9 million likes. Gates has a verified Twitter account with 15.9 million followers. Zuckerberg’s public Twitter account has not been used since 2012. It has about 307,000 followers.